Formula E (Electric Dreams)

[Penfold]

I'm fairly certain this isn't some elaborate April Fools: http://www.carpoint.com.au/news/2011/motorsport-big-push-for-electric-car-racing-24330

Electric cars drink battery life at high speed, so how far on one charge?  Do we get short races or pitting to 'refuel' - which would be an exciting wait even with ultra-capacitors.  And then there's the sound... my god, it will be a struggle to keep the crowds at bay.

It does not have to replace Formula 1 though. We have A1GP, which never got very popular, and some other series (what's the one with soccer teams?). This could just be a new series with no viewership, because Formula 1 won't turn to electric engines in 2013 for sure.

A series with no one watching... a sponsor's delight!

Is the football team one still going?  Been to Google, did some 'Googling', now back with important info.: It's the Superleague Formula, and its 4th season gets underway in Estoril at end of May - appears to visit just 6 tracks (2 races per weekend?) http://www.superleagueformula.com/races

Huge names in the series as well, such as (and this is 2010) Narain Karthikeyan, Chris van der Drift (Brilliant name), Franck Montagny, Robert Doornbos and Sébastien Bourdais. Previous drivers include Enrique Bernoldi, Antonio Pizzonia and Ho-Pin Tung!

Wow.  Star-studded.  Perhaps get a few to double up with this all-electric extravaganza.

Look at you with your 1010 posts.  At this rate you should surpass my tally no problem.

I post 45% of this forum's posts, you post 45%, and everyone else combined makes up about 10%. How am I catching you?

Higher daily rate???

All I know is you're now approx. 100 behind - first time gap has been so small.

A few others posting would be welcome.  Save Chrill from this dangerous habit of talking to me....

I love you, Penfold. You are my electric dream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9foZ7KVSng

Good grief, the FIA is actually pressing on with the wacky notion of electric racing: http://www.yallaf1.com/2012/08/28/formula-e-the-long-term-alternative-to-formula-1/

Presumably stems from the misplaced belief that electric-only cars have a useful role to play in mainstream transport, which with current battery technology they clearly don't.  The most promising 'electric' cars in development have a small petrol/diesel motor to keep the wheels turning when you want to do more than 100 miles in a day.


Formula E presses on, organiser believes top F1 teams will eventually join in the fun: http://grandprix247.com/2013/07/12/formula-e-expected-to-attract-top-formula-1-teams/

Electric racing cars... sounds exciting to me.

We'll always be together,
together in electric dreams!

Great, now that song is stuck in my head....

[Penfold]

Well, we had the first race of the series today. Did you watch it? I watched the first 5 laps. Dull track did not encourage overtaking or any sort of proper racing. Still, we had a nasty incident on the last lap. Nicholas Prost decided Nick Heidfeld should not overtake him and so decided to turn into him. Heidfeld crashed heavily but survived unscathed. It looked awful. Worst part is, Prost didn't even bother to check on Heidfeld. He just walked away like nothing happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Bzmu1ZIVs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5z6hDs5YpA

We are together in electric dreams!!  Whiny sounding electric cars racing around deserted street circuits are the future of car car racing, apparently.  Commentators telling us that a driver has 33% battery left is what we have to look forward to... As for the race, it was mind numbingly dull until Nico Prost decided to switch his brain off and launch Quick Nick into the Beijing smog...

Two laps was enough for me....

Are we getting another race or has the series gone flat?  Not that I want to watch it I should hasten to add, I'm just curious...

I came up with an idea to improve the series.  Have all the teams sponsored by e-cigarette manufacturers, with drivers puffing on the e-cigs whenever they are out of the car.  Redesign the cars to look like 1970's F1 cars with a simulated V12 engine noise and let them go at it.  If one squints and turns ones head to the side whilst watching half-drunk it might, just might, make for a better spectacle.  At the very least it would be a novelty for a short while...

Second race of the series is due 22nd November in Putraya, Malaysia. This is followed by a race in Uruguay on the 13th December, Buenos Aires (Argentina) 10 January. Then Miami in March. So they do have long pauses sometimes.

Sam Bird won race 2, Prost got a grid penalty for his faux pas in the last race but still finished in the top six. I didn't watch it, no idea whether it was as dull as round one...

Almost certainly....

Eight manufacturers selected to supply powertrains from 2015/16 season: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117790

Anyone watch the Monaco round today?  It was on ITV4 here in Brit Land and was, well... okay.  Bruno Senna went airborne right after the start, presumably these cars have front wheel guards in order to stop them launching skywards but they seem to keep doing it...

Sebastien Buemi won it, almost an ex-Minardi man having driven for Toro Rosso...

I did see the start crash. That track looked quite narrow. Good practice for the workers since the big show is coming to town soon.

There are a ton of former STR drivers in Formula E.

IndyCars have rear wheel guards/pods as well, but from everything I've seen, I don't think they can truly stop a car from going airborne if they run into the car in front at a high enough speed. They break off and the car goes over the wheel anyway. They are a safety improvement since people hit them first, which could allow them to race closer together in typical conditions, but if the rear car collides at speed then they're still going airborne.

[Penfold]

A fairly low-voltage series all in all, I saw bits and pieces of it, the final Battersea Park race was okay, Sam Bird won even though he finished second because Sarrasin ran out of battery power except his car was still moving. Ah... okay...

There probablu needs to be some fine-tuning going forward, but I think there has to be a place for an electric series given the way road cars are evolving...

If we consider this season a demo/prototype, then the series can surely be something in the future. They have all the names racing and all the funding necessary. It's a matter of attracting crowds and I think in time they can. I don't think this will be a new A1GP

I agree with you, I think there has to be a place for an electric racing series in these times.  I, for one, am quite interested in getting an electric road car as a little city run around, for now their  range does not merit anything more than that but I think we all need to get on board sooner or later and Formula E should help with acceptance...

As for the racing, there does need to be a few tweaks, although it is encouraging that so many famous names are involved...

Well, take the Tesla cars. Their Model S have a very good range (265 miles/426 km) and that was launched way back in 2012. I'm wondering why none of the major car manufacturers have caught up because that's more than enough to get you to work and back home and then some.

What's the range of the Chevy Volt?

I think FE was hampered by the tracks more than anything else. Even had they were able to race at 100%, it would have been difficult on tracks like that.

"The 2013/14 model year Volt all-electric range is 38 mi (61 km)"

In other words, it's shit. Then again, the Volt isn't all-electric to begin with. It's a hybrid.

Just watched the race from this weekend. Other than Buemi running away with the win, it was great throughout the pack. Allowing different powertrain manufacturers doesn't seem to have hurt competition, other than Renault apparently being way better than everyone else.

The coverage still needs some work. They lack camera angles so we weren't able to see any of the incidents. The radio transmission system doesn't work correctly. Occasionally they provided information about who was talking, but usually the announcers just had to guess. Many of the teams don't speak English on the radio either, which sucks, but I'm fine with it.

Jaguar to enter a team next season and it will be overseen by a little known outfit called Williams: http://www.grandprix247.com/2015/12/15/williams-to-run-jaguars-formula-e-team/

New seat belt system being trialled which could soon spell the end for minimum pit-stop times: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121462

[Penfold]

Formula E gets a new chassis supplier from 2018 season.  More efficient aero, reduced weight courtesy of fancy materials, and a bulked-up battery will, it is hoped, allow cars to run for 45 minutes and so eliminate mid-race car swaps: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128081

See! That's what I said back in 2015. The sport will only improve as technology improves.

I've watched a few races (not avidly, but they've been on the TV whilst I've been in the room) and I don't have an issue with the car-swapping so a non-stop race won't by default be an improvement; what I'd rather they focussed on is making the cars quicker.  So yes for the new aero and weight shaving, and yes for beefier batteries, but for me these gains should be seen as a means of increasing the agility and speed of the cars rather than increasing their range just for the sake of it.

[Penfold]

Ferrari keen to have some level of involvement in Formula E: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/03/30/ferrari-need-involved-formula-e/

Apparently the 2016/17 season continues with a race this Saturday.  I say season, but the scheduling is so random, with such huge gaps between races, that it feels more like a collection of individual races than a single campaign.  Half a dozen more races or run the season over six months instead of nine to bunch them together.

[Matt]

The schedule is certainly confusing. I also always forget that the races are on Saturdays. I do actually like the series when I can watch it though. The other problem here is that it often gets thrown on FS2, a channel that almost no one gets.

[Chrill]

Formula E doesn't air behind a pay wall in Sweden, which means I fail to catch it! It's on the more commonly available EuroSport. which I just don't have since they mostly air bicycle races and snooker

[Matt]

FS2 just isn't included in most cable packages. I have every channel, basically, offered by my cable provider. It just isn't in there.

But this week's race was on FS1 and it was quite a good race. The Mexico City track isn't very good though and it was impossible to pass. D'Ambrosio prevented a race for the lead by being a roadblock, all to just run out of energy in the end and DNF. The Mahindras were running well until Prost took out Heidfeld, who collected Rosenqvist. I thought Prost should have been penalized, but nothing happened.

[Chrill]

Yes. I read a comment from Felix in a Swedish newspaper, he wasn't too pleased with Prost. He does seem to get along very well with Heidfeld though. At least that's the image they wish to promote.

[Penfold]

Out of the handful of races I've seen, Prost does seem to have been involved in a disproportionately high no. of collisions.

[Chrill]

See Prost v. Heidfeld:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG1VPss4LKI

Heidfeld clearly overtakes Prost, who then turns in. Oopsie.

[Penfold]

Might see Kubica racing in FE later in the year: https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/kubica-tests-formula-e-car-at-donington-park-901206/

[Chrill]

Kubica is clearly flirting with single seaters again. BRING HIM BACK TO F1.

[Penfold]

Unfortunately, I think that ship has sailed.

[Penfold]

Monaco EPrix on Saturday, I shall certainly make an effort to watch it.